A Huge Orange (Haired) Problem (Solver)
by kleec13
Summary: Why oh why is coming up with fanfiction titles so hard? I hope you find my play on the episode title "A Huge Orange Problem" at least somewhat clever. If not, I'm not offended. ;) Annnnyway, I've had a strange soft spot for Jimmy since my early days of watching Wild Kratts. I hope you like my fanfic with him as a main character!
1. Chapter 1

A bit of a disclaimer, I'm not entirely sure how long this will be or how often I'll be able to upload new parts. School and other life stuff, ya know? But this will definitely come to an end at some point! Alright, let's get on with the fanfic!

"What's wrong, Martin?" the redheaded gamer asked.

"Chris just called. He's sick and won't be able to make it on our trip to the Amazon."

"Bummer," Jimmy said. "We could wait until he gets better."

"I had the same thought, but Chris insisted that we leave without him since we were so ready to go and all. It didn't seem like an appropriate time to argue."

Martin paused and stared at his lap for a moment. He didn't want to admit it, but he was nervous. Fortunately for the Wild Kratts team, all of them had strong immune systems and therefore, rarely got sick. This would be the first time they'd take off on a creature adventure without a member of the team. Chris was great company and an amazing person to work with, but without Chris, Martin also felt very vulnerable. Though he still had some hope they'd make it work in the end, he learned quickly that every member of the Wild Kratts Team was important. Aviva, Koki, and Jimmy were amazing, but none of them could provide the security and creature adventure knowledge that Chris could in the wild because that wasn't their expertise. Jimmy, meanwhile, cocked his head to the side a little in concern.

"Are you sure?" he asked, sensing the tension Martin was feeling.

"Yeah," Martin said with as much assurance as he could muster. "Maybe it'll be good for me and Chris both."

The two then heard the Tortuga doors open.

"Alright, we're all set for the Amazon!" Aviva said as she entered with Koki. "Where's Chris? It's not like him to be late."

"He called a bit ago. He's sick and won't be able to make it, but he said we could leave without him. He didn't want to be a cause of delay. I guess you two will have half the trouble to deal with today," Martin chuckled, trying to hide his nervousness again.

"Alright one half of trouble," Koki responded in her classic sassy tone, "tell Chris to get well soon. Jimmy, ready for takeoff?"

"On it!" Jimmy said obediently.

Aviva and Koki went about their day at their Tortuga stations tracking their location and making sure the Tortuga was doing okay. Martin on the other hand, didn't have much to do without his partner in crime, so he decided to go to the cockpit and see what Jimmy was up to.

"Hey, Martin. Glad you could join me. It can get kinda quiet in here when I need to fly for a long time," Jimmy greeted.

"Glad I could join in, too. The view is marvelous from here, isn't it? We should keep our favorite pilot company while we're flying more often. Speaking of, what got you interested in being a pilot? I don't think I've ever asked you that."

"Well, ever since I was little, I've always wanted to know what it was like to fly. I'm scared of many things, as you know, but for some reason, heights never bothered me. I also have nimble and quick hands along with keen eyes. That led to my interest in videogames, too."

Martin sat in the passenger leaning back with his feet in front of him and turned his head towards Jimmy.

"You're a lot smarter than people give you credit for, huh?" he asked his pilot friend.

"Well, it takes one to know one, right?" Jimmy asked.

"Touché, JZ," Martin responded laughing back. "Touché."


	2. Chapter 2

"Hm… so Chris is out of commission today, is he?" Donita asked as Dabio showed her what was going on.

"Looks like it, Donita," Dabio said.

"And they're going to the Amazon today? What luck! So many animals live in rainforests. So many designs I could make."

"I remember they were talking about monkeys, Donita. While they were planning the trip."

"Monkeys? Well, good. I was feeling primate today. They always make such nice, soft fur. So. Let's see how Martin does without his green brother, shall we? We'll be two against one."

"But Martin has Jimmy, Koki, and Aviva," Dabio said.

"Psh. It'll be two against one outside the Tortuta. And besides, what kind of a 'team' can they be without one of their members? Take us to the Amazon, Dabio. Let's pay them a visit."

"Alright, Donita."

* * *

"The Tortuga is parked! We've officially arrived in the Amazon rainforest!" Jimmy said.

"Awesome, JZ. Martin, ready to go find some monkeys?"

"Yeah! I wonder what type we'll find first. There are so many. Capuchins, spider monkeys, tamarins…"

"Martin!" Koki exclaimed.

"Oh, sorry. But yes, my creature pod is all charged and ready to go if I need to call you. I'll record what I find for all of you and for Chris when he can see it."

"Sounds good, Martin!"

Martin gave Aviva a thumbs up and rode his blue buzz bike through the forest. He stopped as he looked and found a huge group of tamarins. He took out his creature pod.

"Hey, Chris! Your big brother Martin here. Thought I'd update you on things here in the Amazon. I found some tamarins! It's a huge group for emperor tamarins. Looks like maybe 15-20. I'm gonna go follow them. I'll be back."

Martin slowly went up the tree in attempt not to disturb the tamarins. He found a mom and a baby.

"Well, here they are, Chris," Martin said to his creature pod. "Ha, I'll never get tired of looking at those moustaches. Hm… I think I'll name the baby 'Bigote', the Spanish word Aviva taught me for 'moustache,' even though he has a bit before his grows. And for the mom… well, since they're called Emperor Tamarins, I'll name her Queen Tammy." Martin went searching for his Tamarin power disk. "Dang. I need to have a set place for those like Chris does…"

"That's what you say every time you lose a creature power disk," Aviva said with a giggle. "I think your Tamarin disk is in the front pocket of your backpack. Jimmy will teleport it to you."

"Emperor Tamarin powers, huh?" Jimmy asked as he found Martin's disk. "Sounds cool."

"Really?" Koki asked.

"Yeah! I mean, look at them! I want a moustache like that."

"Want to join me?" Martin asked. "Aviva could print another disk."

"Maybe…" Jimmy said as he oriented the teleporter. "Coming at you Martin!"

"Thanks, Jimmy." Martin looked at his new monkey friends and then gently touched the Tamarin's fur. "Activate Emperor Tamarin powers!"

After the transformation took place, Aviva and Koki couldn't help but laugh at their friend's new appearance.

"You look good with a moustache, MK," Aviva giggled. Martin pruned his new piece of facial hair in response and started to jump around.

"Woohoo!" Martin said as he started jumping around. "Tamarins are small, but that just means they can reach places bigger monkeys can't. And they're super swift in the trees."

But Martin's excitement stopped once he saw a pink flash below him.


	3. Chapter 3

Phew! Now that I'm done with school, I can finish this! I'm going to make this one long-ish chapter since I had time to write a lot.

Martin went down to see what Donita was up to. Donita and Dabio were on their hover chair.

"Ah, so many tamarins and other monkeys around! Today really is my lucky day!"

"Oh no," Martin whispered to himself. "She can't do this!" he said a little too loudly.

Donita's head snapped.

"Was that a Kratt brother or am I hearing things?"

"I'm not sure, Donita," Dabio responded.

"Donita, you can't capture these tamarins. No matter how cool they look, they aren't meant to be your fashion designs," Martin said, showing himself.

"Who says they can't?" Donita retorted. Rolling his eyes, Martin jumped to try to get to the cage where the tamarins were captured, but Donita was quick to use the laser device that she had used in Germany when trying get the salamander skins. Martin made another few attempts to get to the Tamarins with no success. Donita made a cackle before going into the jet. After they left, Martin looked at the embers in horror.

"Oh please, please don't…" Martin started to say before a gust of wind started a fire," ignite."

* * *

With shaking hands, Martin picked up his creature pod.

"Tortuga… Donita was here. She shot the trees with lasers. The Amazon is on fire!" he exclaimed. Aviva and Koki were there to answer Martin's call.

"Oh no!" they gasped.

"There's water nearby, but it's still far away enough for the fire to do great damage," Koki lamented as she looked at a map of Martin's location.

"Is there any way we can at least get Martin out of there?" Aviva asked.

"I'll do it," Jimmy said, coming out of the cockpit. "If we can find a rope ladder, I'll go down there are help Martin out."

The two female scientists looked at each other in surprise for a few seconds. They were surprised the person they thought to be so timid was willing to put himself in such a dangerous situation. But nonetheless, Aviva nodded.

"There's a rope ladder in the basement. I'll go get it. You're going to be okay, Martin. I promise," she assured. As the Tortuga was lowered, Aviva and Koki slowly and carefully let down the ladder. Jimmy went to the burning forest floor as he looked around for Martin. The fire was still in its initial stages, but it was spreading fast. Jimmy started to worry as the smoke started to hinder his vision. But then, an unmistakable blue light flashed through.

"Jimmy!" Martin shouted.

"I'm coming, Martin!" Jimmy ran through the woods. Martin was only a few feet away, but to Jimmy, it seemed like miles. But finally, he came to Martin's rescue.

Jimmy led Martin to the Tortuga and Aviva and Koki brought the two up to safety.

"How are you two?" Koki asked.

"A little soft boiled, but I'll be okay," Martin said, looking at the bits of soot on his body.

"Yes, same here," Jimmy reassured.

"But what about the Amazon?" Martin said, looking at the map of where the water was. "Saving me could have prevented you from saving the Amazon in time…"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Jimmy interrupted.

"Buckle up, everyone!" Jimmy requested.

* * *

The Tortuga whizzed through the forest like it never had before as Jimmy carefully, yet quickly, maneuvered it. Jimmy took some risky short cuts as if they got lost, they'd never find the water. But in the end, Jimmy made it to the water and back in under half the time Aviva and Koki thought it would take. Koki engaged the Tortuga in fire engine mode and put out the fire.

The Wild Kratts team gathered around their favorite pilot as they gave a big cheer.

"Jimmy, have we told you recently that you're amazing?" Aviva asked.

"Ah, sucks. It was nothing. Just doing my job," Jimmy said.

"I see we don't need you activating creature powers any time soon. You're quite important as a pilot. And even though you worry a lot, you put that aside to save your friend. We're proud of you, JZ," Martin said, giving his friend a pat on the back.

"Wait until Chris hears about this!" Koki said.

The others laughed in response and gave another big hug.

I'll post another final part soon! Oh and I've gotta give Martin credit for that scene in Fire Salamander that inspired this. It wasn't the longest scene, but his performance there reminds me that both Chris and Martin are great actors. And I know pretty much all of you want Jimmy Z to activate a creature power suit at some point. Despite this fanfic, I do as well. Maybe that'll be a fanfic for another time. :)


	4. Chapter 4

Jimmy woke up two days later. He was the first one up, which was odd for him. He lay in his bed for a few minutes in thought. What happened in the Amazon still felt so surreal. He cared for Martin a great deal, and even if he loved and was loyal to his job as a pilot but he even surprised himself to what he was capable of that day. Jimmy got up and went to the cockpit. He thought some more. He was different than the other members of the Wild Kratts team as his job was helping just the Wild Kratts team and not the animals, and therefore he sometimes wondered if the team valued him in the same way. He was glad that yesterday proved they did. Through the window of the Tortuga cockpit, Jimmy saw Chris walking. Excitedly, Jimmy walked outside to meet him.

"Hey, JZ! Good to see you!"

"Hi, Chris. Glad you're back. You're up nice and early, as usual."

"Yeah, not 100%, but enough to be back here doing what I love. Martin told me you saved the day in the Amazon."

"Oh… well…"

"We'll never underestimate you, Jimmy. Glad you could have my brother's back when I couldn't. And you saved the Amazon."

Jimmy blushed, but laughed along.

"I'm glad I could help Martin, too. I'll never underestimate myself, either."

"Hey, bro! Welcome back!" Martin called from the Tortuga door.

"Hi, Martin! Thanks for the updates. I sure hope those tamarins are okay."

"Well, Koki's been tracking Donita's website. She hasn't done anything with them yet. I'm kinda at a loss on what I should do, which is why I've been waiting until you come back to act unless necessary."

"Why don't you call her this evening," Chris suggested.

"Okay," Martin agreed.

The day passed and the Wild Kratts team spent the day welcoming Chris back and planning more creature adventures. In the afternoon, the Tortuga received a call.

"Wild Kratts Tortuga, Martin here," Martin answered.

"Hi. It's… it's Donita." Martin sensed some nervousness in her voice. He had never seen this side of Donita before. It was strange, but Martin kept it together.

"Donita? Um… hi. Have you gotten rid of the tamarins?"

"Yeah, about that… Martin… I just found out… I never… if I knew what could have happened to you… I just…"

"I know," Martin finished. "You never wanted to harm me or anybody. You just wanted the tamarins, just as I never want to harm you in freeing the animals from your projects. We just want and believe different things."

Donita was left speechless for a moment while trying to find the words.

"I'm releasing the tamarins," Donita finally managed to say.

"Good. Thanks," Martin said, though he knew the thank you wasn't exactly warranted since Donita shouldn't have taken the tamarins in the first place.

"I get so carried away…" Donita said.

"I understand."

"It's a shame. The whole thing about wanting and believing different things," Donita admitted.

Martin nodded.

"But I guess there's nothing we can do about it," Martin said.

"No, I guess not."

"Bye, Donita. Thanks for calling. Truly."

"Bye, Martin."

"Who was that, bro?" Chris asked, overhearing the call. Martin sat in thought, but then snapped back into reality as he answered Chris's question.

"I guess I won't have to call Donita tonight."


End file.
